A Strange Group Of Friends
by TalliW
Summary: Nick and Jenny share their first kiss.


AN: This story is dedicated to Cielag aka A1cmustangpilot who shares my foible for crows and birds generally and who wrote wonderful stories about some of the bird's prehistoric relatives, the Pyroraptors.

Jenny Lewis sat down next to Nick on the stairs of the ARC's fire escape, curious about what he was doing here after he'd had another row with Lester about firstly, the trigger-happy soldiers unnecessarily injuring relatively harmless prehistoric creatures and secondly, the recklessness of Cutter and his team.

Jenny had backed him up this time, much to Abby's and Connor's amazement and Lester's irritation, but Cutter had still stormed away angrily.

She had assumed Cutter had left the building until Becker had tipped her off that the security had been breached on the second floor and not from the outside.

Now he was sitting here completely calm, with a faint melancholy smile on his lips and stared down to the small strip of grass alongside the footpath.

"It's astoundingly how similar we are to the animals," he said.

Jenny wasn't sure if he was talking to her or to himself.

He'd been distant with all of them since Stephen's burial and she suspected he was slowly sinking into the depths of a depression.

Only now she realised he was watching a crow on the grass and he had a nearly untouched sandwich in his hand.

"Take that crow there, for instance," he carried on. "It's stalking around, proud and neat in its glossy black feathers like Lester in his suit."

He broke off a chunk of bread from his sandwich and threw it down on the turf, where the crow snatched it up in its beak.

After the crow had eaten the morsel of bread, she croaked demanding more and Cutter laughed bitterly.

"It's never enough. He always thinks we have to function like cogs in a wheel. The project is more important than his people. Did you know he's blamed Stephen in his report, along with Helen and Leek?"

Jenny sighed and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.  
"Nick, unfortunately Stephen was foolish to believe Helen. He did let us down and must bear some responsibility for the fallout. Lester has only reported the truth. As the man in charge, he had to do that but nevertheless he cared for Stephen, he cares for all of us."

Nick cast another piece of bread down and the crow stalked eagerly in direction of the food.

A twittering little finch was interested in the appetizing food as well and flew down to grasp its due before the crow had reached it.

The crow croaked angrily but the finch twittered and fluttered around, totally confusing the larger bird.

"That could be Connor," Jenny declared, amused and even Cutter smirked at the comparison.

An elegant wood pigeon landed not far away from the two birds. It seemed to have got about quickly that there was easily earned food here.

The pigeon moved slowly closer to the food, a little anxious and constantly eyeing the crow.

The way she behaved reminded Jenny of Sarah, who was still a little insecure about her place in the team. Apparently Nick thought the same, as he spoke the name of the archeologist loudly.

As a lovely tomtit joined the group, fearlessly crossing the path of the crow and even pecking it in passing, they both called out, "Abby!" and then snickered together.

Nick felt sorry for the crow, who suddenly had to deal with this strange group of like-minded spirits and tossed one more bit to the ground.

It landed exactly in front of the crow and the black-feathered bird took possession of it immediately.

Suddenly a blackbird arrived and marched in without fear, snatching at the remaining small piece under the eyes of the crow but sadly without success.

"That could be you, Jenny," Nick Cutter whispered.

"Or you," Jenny replied.

"No, that's a hen. They are shade lighter than the male, more brown than black."

The next chunk of bread hit the crow almost on the head and the black bird croaked displeased.

The wood pigeon tripped closer and the blackbird started a new attempt to get something of the bread. The crow watched them distrustfully, now too busy guarding the food against the other competitors to find the time to eat it.

The moment the blackbird hen attacked and hopped back instantly to avoid the dangerous beak and artfully luring the angry crow away from its guard post, another blackbird, completely black, skimmed in from the side and hijacked the slice of bread.

Nick and Jenny laughed as the crow clamoured in annoyance. It even sounded like Lester when he was in a bad mood.

Their laughter died slowly as they espied the pair of blackbirds on the footpath, now picking together peacefully at their prize. They perched close together and from the distance it looked like their beaks met every time they bowed down to the food.

The easy atmosphere on the stairs vanished and was replaced with a crackling air filled with possibilities.

"Jenny," Nick whispered gently and Jenny gulped at the intense look he had turned on her. As though drawn together by an invisible force, they moved towards each other until their lips finally met in a soft, tentative kiss.

The half-eaten sandwich fell from Cutter's hand and toppled down to the ground where it was welcomed by the group of excited birds....

Every time Jenny Cutter heard the croaking of a crow or the twitter of a blackbird or some other bird she smiled at her husband and remembered the first kiss they had shared.  
At their house and at the ARC she always had food ready for her feathered friends...


End file.
